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Community Development Employment Projects
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<p> The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) was an initiative by the <a href="/facts/Australian_Government/UAFhWff0">Australian Government</a> for the employment of <a href="/facts/Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_people/9XfEQEgq">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people</a> It provided a flexible basic income support. </p><p>One way in which the CDEP funds, along with those of another federal government program, the Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP), were deployed was via the <a href="/facts/Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_Commission/QWCERYz5">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission</a> (ATSIC) to <a href="/facts/Outstation_(Aboriginal_community)/dGl3lWwy">outstations</a> (tiny, remote communities, also known as homelands) across the <a href="/facts/Northern_Territory/5BFWuuyv">Northern Territory</a>, until ATSIC was dismantled by the <a href="/facts/Howard_government/a4Jy6lJz">Howard government</a> in 2004. Then CDEP was transferred to the <a href="/facts/Department_of_Employment_and_Workplace_Relations_(2001%25E2%2580%25932007)/epFIopNH">Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (2001–2007)</a>, which made it much harder to access by outstation residents. </p><p>On 23 July 2007, during the <a href="/facts/Northern_Territory_National_Emergency_Response/UVdkHPQE">Northern Territory National Emergency Response</a> ("the Intervention"), the Howard government announced the abolition of the CDEP scheme in the <a href="/facts/Northern_Territory/5BFWuuyv">Northern Territory</a>. The scheme had an estimated 7,500 participants. The Government planned to progressively abolish projects in urban areas of Australia by July 2009, and in remote areas by July 2011. </p><p>In July 2009, CDEP was replaced with <a href="/facts/Job_Services_Australia/8mN8uULJ">Job Services Australia</a> in regions with “established economies”. In remote areas, new participants were redirected to income support direct from <a href="/facts/Centrelink/e3rRoPSW">Centrelink</a>. In the homelands, it was replaced with the Community Development Program, a <a href="/facts/Work_for_the_Dole/e4UydqVk">work-for-the-dole</a> scheme, requiring unemployed people to work five hours a day, five days a week in supervised work or training. </p>